Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company: Sugarcane productivity in some places reaches 95 tons/ha

Timely sugarcane care

During the hot season, the most worrying thing is that the sugarcane fields in the highlands are prone to dry leaves, but this year the weather is more favorable so the sugarcane grows quite well. Right after the recent rains, the Joint Stock CompanySong Con SugarcaneDirect the raw material staff to actively stick to the area, instruct people on care, by fertilizing with NPK fertilizer of the production company, weeding, and hilling; for sugarcane fields with long shoots, peel off the sheaths and check for pests and diseases.

Normally after each rain, white cotton aphids appear on sugarcane plants; currently, stem borers have appeared on some sugarcane areas. To promptly prevent pests and diseases on sugarcane plants, when raw material staff detect pests in sugarcane fields, they immediately notify the owner to organize early prevention.

Farmers in Giai Xuan commune (Tan Ky) take care of raw sugarcane. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Nguyen Huu Long's family in Hamlet 10, Nghia Dong Commune grows 5 hectares of raw sugarcane. Mr. Long said that, following the recommendations of agricultural officers, right after the rains, the family uses a plow to remove the roots, fertilizes with enough NPK fertilizer provided by the company, and then builds high ridges to help the sugarcane grow quickly, while keeping the sugarcane from falling over when there is strong wind. "Now, growing sugarcane requires applying new sugarcane varieties and intensive cultivation to increase productivity so that sugarcane growers can make a profit. Otherwise, the productivity will be low, leading to income not being enough to cover expenses," Mr. Long confided.

“Raw material staff is a daily silent job in the field. If we are negligent and irresponsible, it will affect the productivity and quality of sugarcane, causing sugarcane growers to lose income and reduce sugarcane output for the factory. Determining this, I always put my duties first, being present in the field every day to grasp the situation specifically,” shared Mr. Nguyen Cong Thuc.

White-backed aphids are a pest that sugarcane growers need to pay attention to at this time. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Since the beginning of the year, the price of sugar in the market has been stable and increasing, so the price of raw sugarcane this year is expected to be higher than previous years. Therefore, sugarcane growers need to focus on taking care of sugarcane properly to achieve high productivity, in order to bring profit during the harvest.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Quy - Deputy Director in charge of raw materials of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company

Replicating the new model

In recent years, the sugarcane raw material area has tended to decrease due to many areas of sugarcane being abandoned, people switching to growing other crops. To overcome this situation, Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company has implemented many solutions to stabilize the sugarcane raw material area. The key task is to organize the review and planning of concentrated sugarcane raw material areas by consolidating fields, accumulating land, intensively increasing sugarcane productivity, building a model of planting new sugarcane varieties with a yield of 80 tons/ha or more, applied entirely by mechanization.
The sugarcane material area of ​​Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company currently maintains a total area of ​​over 5,500 hectares, in 6 districts: Tan Ky, Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Anh Son, Nam Dan and Thanh Chuong, in which Tan Ky district is the focus with nearly 4,000 hectares. Sugarcane has been associated with people in the material area for decades, many households have escaped poverty thanks to sugarcane.

However, in reality, sugarcane growers are not well off because the productivity and quality of sugarcane are not high. On average, 1 hectare of raw sugarcane of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company only reaches less than 60 tons/ha, the economic value is only less than 50 million VND, when harvesting, after deducting all expenses, sugarcane growers only make a profit of about half.
Therefore,improve productivity, the quality of raw sugarcane is a strategic policy of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company. To achieve that goal, in recent years, the Company has implemented many models of intensive cultivation of high-yield sugarcane, applying 100% mechanization, using new sugarcane varieties.

Model of growing new, high-yield sugarcane varieties in Nghia Dong commune. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Nguyen Sy Hai - Head of Raw Material Production Department of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company added: In addition to 17 hectares of agricultural land of Nghia Dong commune people previously planted with ineffective short-term crops, to implement the intensive sugarcane cultivation model, using the new sugarcane variety LK 9211. This is a model of continuous area, continuous plot, applying mechanization from land preparation, fertilization, planting, care... to harvesting and reasonable investment, so the average yield reaches 95 tons/ha. Entering the 2021 - 2022 crop year, the entire sugarcane area of ​​the previous model is kept at the root, thanks to timely and reasonable investment in care, the sugarcane sprouts develop strongly, it is expected that this crop year the yield will increase to 120 tons/ha.

Another new point is that this year the company has also implemented many new models, with an area of ​​150 hectares in Tan Ky, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong and Anh Son districts. In this form, the company rents land, then assigns it to households that meet the conditions to grow raw sugarcane. All of these new models are planted with new sugarcane varieties LK9211, KK3... and apply intensive sugarcane cultivation by mechanization, fertilization, and care according to the company's recommendations. This is a new form of model implementation, aiming to exploit the potential of land in localities and create conditions for people to participate in production linkages.

White cotton aphids are a fairly common pest in all sugarcane growing areas, especially during the growing season, after rains. They cause damage by both adults and young aphids gathering on the underside of sugarcane leaves to suck the leaf sap. If severe, it will make the sugarcane stunted and slow to grow, not only reducing productivity but also reducing sugar content.